History Fanfic / MastermindStrategistForHire

Izuku Midoriya never got the chance to save Bakugo from the sludge villain and impress All Might. With his dream crushed, Izuku becomes bitter and angry. It also doesn't help that he [[FantasticRacism faces discrimination at every turn.]] All he ever wanted was to be appreciated, so when the villains are the ones to recognize his talents rather than the heroes, well, Izuku just can't resist. He might as well help those who actually want him around.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: When Nedzu theorizes that Mastermind is nothing more than an intellectually-gifted Quirkless boy pushed to the edge in Chapter 29, he makes a troubling point:
--> '''Nedzu''': [[CreateYourOwnVillain Are we responsible for creating the very villain that will destroy us?]]

** This also happens in reverse, though more bitter than sweet. [[spoiler: Mastermind]]'s 2-ish year reign of terror is over with his capture, but a lot of people (heroes, villains, and civilians) were killed along the way and thanks to him and his associates. On top of that, [[EndOfAnEra Japan's hero society is forced to change]] from emphasizing popularity to practicality, as well as being forced to acknowledge the corruption within itself.

** Overhaul similarly knows Mastermind's abilities and reputation but still attacks Inko as a threat towards Izuku.

* DoNotAdjustYourSet: The League of Villains uses Himiko and Twice to takeover all the news stations and broadcast their destruction of the [=MLA=].
* TheDogBitesBack: When [[spoiler:Giran]] realizes that [[spoiler:Mastermind]] has decided to poison him, he tries to tell the police their identity. Unfortunately, they succumb before they can finish [[spoiler:Masterminds]] family name.

* EntertaininglyWrong: In Chapter 41 [[spoiler: Inko accidentally comes across one of Izuku's notebook on how to kill heroes, but instead of figuring out he's Mastermind, she thinks that Izuku had joined a violent gang. Tsukauchi and Nedzu play along with this assumption so they can protect her, not break her heart, and so Izuku doesn't suspect that they figured out his identity]].

** Hero-Killer Stain winds up hating Izuku/Mastermind for [[spoiler: being the one who killed All Might (in his eyes the only true hero in all of Japan)]] and immediately puts him on his hit-list. [[spoiler:Izuku returns the favor by being the one who murders ''him'']].

* FantasticRacism:

** Re-Destro and the Meta Liberation Army outright refuses to believe Izuku could possibly be Quirkless, declaring that the Quirkless are worse than useless and no one could become as powerful as Mastermind has without a powerful Quirk.

* ItsPersonal: Izuku's reason for joining the League of Villains in their attack on the USJ is because he wanted to deal with All-Might personally.

* MathematiciansAnswer: One of the big clues towards Mastermind's identity is that someone close to him had been threatened by Overhaul. But since Overhaul was an up and coming yakuza boss with an attitude problem, Tsukauchi notes this barely narrows things down at all.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Part of the reason why Stain hates Mastermind is because of him believing [[spoiler: that Mastermind killing All Might just lead to Hero Society uniting more strongly and causing it to undertake the "wrong changes" now that its "crown jewel" is gone]].

* NotSoDifferentRemark: Hawks starts having such thoughts after comments by Dabi [[spoiler:and Shoto]] make him realize that he also grew up in an abusive home (albeit emotionally rather than physically) and was raised solely to become a hero without regards for what he wanted.

** When Hawks becomes the number one ranked hero, rather than be happy or envious, most instead feel sorry for him as the deaths of the previous two makes the position more of a target on one's back. The fact he got the position by elimination rather than surpassing the previous two means that he's even more vulnerable than the previous two were.

** Izuku becomes a villain due the actions of All Might, Kamui Woods, the one good action of one of his middle school teachers, and an unnamed [=McDonald's=] director:
*** As in canon, All Might tells Izuku he can't be a hero due being Quirkless, as it would just be too dangerous, unwittingly putting him into a heavy depression.
*** When the Sludge Villain attacked Bakugou, Kamui Woods spotted Izuku trying to save him, and seeing an untrained civilian recklessly jumping into a fight stopped him. This kept Izuku from impressing All Might, keeping him in his depression and eventually resulting in him finding a post where someone asked how "hypotetically" one would go to kill Mt. Lady... And providing the plan that resulted in her assassination.
*** After the above, Izuku tried his hardest to ''not'' become a villain. Then at school one of his teachers suggested him and everyone else to keep in mind their Quirks and talents when choosing their career path, at which point Izuku found out of the high unemployment rate among Quirkless people. To try and prove to himself he had a choice other than becoming a villain or homeless, Izuku started looking for a job, applying, among other places, at a [=McDonald's=]... Whose director instead hired one of Izuku's bullies in spite of his poor permanent record. It's at this point that Izuku goes and actually starts selling plans to villains.

** In Chapter 41, [[spoiler: Inko accidentally finds one of Izuku's Mastermind notebooks while cleaning his room for him while he's at school. Reading a bit of it and realizing it's a plan for a criminal plot, she worries that her son has joined a gang and she goes to the police station to talk to Tsukauchi about it. The notebook creates enough proof for Tsukauchi and Nedzu to realize that Izuku is Mastermind, but they don't want to arrest him until they get rid of his DeadMansSwitch. As a result they tell Inko to return the notebook to Izuku's desk so he won't suspect anything and tells her that if Izuku ever leaves his laptop at home to notify them right away]].

* TeensAreShort: Discussed by Nedzu [[spoiler: when he deduces that Mastermind is most likely a Quirkless teenager. Since Aizawa's PowerNullifier Quirk didn't work on Mastermind, he either has a very weak Quirk or has no Quirk so his stature wouldn't be influenced by it. Between his height and the fact that [[DrivenToSuicide the majority of Quirkless people don't make it to adulthood]], it's very likely Mastermind is a teen]].